Skyrim: A blast from the past
by Hollowminion
Summary: Helen, an apprentice restoration mage from the College of Winterhold has been invited on an expedition into a newly discover ruin quite unlike any found before. One-shot.


Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long without an update! Just had a few issues in rl along possible job redundancy making things difficult at the moment, so anyway this one idea was bouncing around my head last night after watching shoddycast give a rather compelling argument for the fallout and elderscrolls universe. I'll leave the link here: watch?v=ezi-lSRh10A

So I thought it through and thought , why the hell not? So here's Skyrim: A blast from the Past

I did it as a one shot so if anyone wants to take it on and expand it let me know, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy, and I'll hopefully be back with 'Mass Effect 2: Raptures Legacy' at some point, not sure when but hopefully soon! Anyway enjoy and I'll catch you later!

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Helen was just a apprentice mage of restoration at the college of Winterhold, untrained, inexperienced and far too young to be dungeon diving... however through a great deal of luck (and a great deal of pestering) she managed to convince her teacher of alteration arts to bring her on the next ruin expedition, one that had just opened up in the nearby mountains of Skyrim, just outside the college.

She was barely fourteen years old when she limped up to the college's door before demanding to be taught the intricacies of magic, she did turn the college upside down that day, Tolfdir thought to himself, the Breton was badly injured during her travels and by all rights she should have died during the journey to Winterhold, her own restoration magic managing to maintain her body long enough for her to reach the safely of the college, 'a truly remarkable mage' he considered, truly born for the restoration arts he mused as Helen next to him continued to stare around at the construct in wonder.

"This is incredible!" She said as they rode the imposing solid metal floor that lead them deep inside the ruin. "This elevator! Is it a Dwemer construct? It's not made of the same dwemer metals as other ruins are though..." She asked in wonder.

"Ha my dear girl I didn't realise you had knowledge on Dwemer constructs, I should have brought you on an expedition or two sooner it seems." Tolfdir laughed good naturally, it was rare to find a student as attentive or as excited over a ruin, most merely saw an opportunity to rummage for artefacts of power or wealth, students who enjoy learning as opposed to looting were rare unfortunately.

"Its not that professor." Started Helen, still blushing slightly from Tolfdir's praise, continued on. "Sometimes the blacksmiths in town get some dwemer metals that they'll let me have a look at... but this looks nothing like what I expect from a Dwemer ruin." She said as the elevator finally came to a shuddering stop, a jarring screech came next as the shutter began to grind, metal on metal as it slowly rose, sending bouts of dust into the air, destroying any hope of seeing anything in the gloomy light until it settled.

Tolfdir nodded in agreement. "You're right of course, this most certainly isn't a Dwemer ruin-" he beckoned her over to the back wall of the elevator. "- see this plate here? Now I know you've spent quite some free time in the library back at the college, can you recognise Dwemer inscriptions?"

She bit her lip and peered at the metal plate that had been bolted to the back wall of the elevator construct that had brought them down into the cave they currently found themselves. It was old, no doubt about that, dust and muck had covered much of the inscriptions, leaving it very barely legible, but there was just enough visible for her to compare them to the Dwemer script she had seen recorded in the library, they were, without a shadow of a doubt completely different, but at the same time she noticed it was partially familiar to her, words, letters and what appeared to be punctuation, all of it appearing to be simular to several of the common languages used today, primarily in tamriel, it was like someone had compiled a composite language based on the languages of tamriel... fascinating. She reach up with the hem of her robe, intending to wipe away some of the muck before Tolfdir stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that." He said before gesturing to a small curiously blank section of the plate. "The script appears to have been painted on rather than inscribed, it's extremely fragile... I learnt that the first time I was here." He nodded sadly. "Who knows what has already been lost due to time. Still!" He perked up. "I believe these ruins to be older in fact than the Dwimer themselves!" He said as he strolled through the entrance/exit of the elevator now that the shutter had opened completely. "See these stairs? The Dwemer preferred to use ramps as opposed stairs! And more often than not if they used stairs they would have ramps on either side of them, otherwise their Animunculi, or rather their automaton-" He clarified after seeing the puzzled look on her face. "-would never have been able to travers their cities. Of course the most telling feature of a Dwemer ruin is without a doubt the dependency on steam power, here however, there seems to be a lack of any piping or steam vents! Very curious indeed!"

"Surely it can't be older than the Dwemer?" She protested, after stepping out of the elevator, only for it to ponderously begin its return journey to the surface. "The Dwemer vanished thousands of years ago, that's why we know so little about them!" She looked at the remains of the rust eaten stairs, which in turn lead up to what she presumed to be a door, though it was nothing like any door she had seen before, though it did bare similarity to Dwemer cogs...

"You might be right my dear but since coming here I have wondered exactly where the Dwemer got their ideas from, its one thing to build a city underground, but another completely to design and create automaton, beings that can roam freely, completing prearranged jobs and fighting off intruders... you see I believe these ruins not only to be older than the Dwemer themselves, but I believe ruins like these are what gave the Dwemer their ideas! Of course-" he continued on. "I have yet to get past the front door..." He said while motioning to the Dwemer 'Cog' of an entrance. "So my theories are simply that at the moment."

Helen climbed the stairs carefully, wincing at every step that creaked and hesitantly approached the 'door', it was a huge 'door' three times her height and just as wide, but there appeared to be no evidence of a door handle, any switches or even and hinges on it, 'Perhaps...' She thought, considering all she knew so far about the ruins.

Tolfdir watched her as she went back and forth, considering different approaches to opening the door, She'd make a good teacher one day he thought as she finally came to the same idea he had had.

'Maybe... you have to push it?' She frowned. 'It would make sense, without any hinges for it to swing on and no obvious recess for it to go into then it must be that... maybe?' She gave it a nudge to see if that would do anything, but considering the size of the 'door', along with the material it was made from... it wasn't going to be moving anywhere fast.

"Yes, that's the idea I came up with as well. You see this dust here at the bottom?" He asked after climbing the stairs himself. "Metal filings more than dust, this door must have been built to extraordinarily exact measurements, more than likely some metal dust was made when the 'door' was sealed, simply remarkable!"

"Bu-But you'd need the strength of a giant to move something as heavy as this!"

"You may be right on that." Tolfdir nodded his head in agreement. "But thankfully we both know someone who can push even giants around don't we?" He asked with mirth in his eyes.

"We do?"

"Indeed, when I passed on my findings to the Archmage she grew very interested in the ruin herself! In fact I believe she mentioned joining us today." Said Tolfdir, openly smiling at the stunned expression on the apprentice's face.

The-THE DRAGON BORN IS COMING HERE!?" She shouted, the stunned disbelief on her face grew into fan worship as the information worked its way past the shock sections of her brain and straight into the adoration section, The Archmage! The Dragon Born! The Thane of every Hold in Skyrim! She was coming here! Helen whipped out her notebook, a quill and a small ink pot that that she kept on her at all times, finally, she would have the chance to ask for the Archmages autograph!

The screech of the shutter once again rising interrupted her thoughts, lo and behold there she stood, armoured head to toe in dragon bone armour, each piece carefully enchanted to bring out the maximum effect of her magic , her fighting skill and occasionally make her already silver tongue, a little bit more silvery.

"Ah its quite refreshing not having to fight my way through Draugr or various automaton from the outset, how goes the excavation Tolfdir?" She asked.

"Well as you can see Archmage, we haven't managed to get much further I'm afraid."

"Tolfdir, how many times have I told you to call me by my first name?"

"I apologise Archmage but it would be terribly rude not to use your title, ah allow me to introduce you to Helen, one of our best apprentices in the restoration arts."

"A-a pleasure the meet you Archmage! C-can I have you autograph?" Asked Helen before thrusting her notebook in front of her, her head bowed low to hide the faint blush that had once again spread across her face.

Before she knew it a rich laughter filled the air. "Of course, of course... I didn't realise just how well known I am in the college, maybe I should come back more often." Unfortunately for the Dragon Born, once Alduin was slain she had to pick up on all of her other duties once more, being a Thane in Skyrim was hard work, even more so when you're Thane of every Hold in Skyrim and the leader of almost every organisation based there, mutterings from other provinces had always said that she welded to much power, but of course no one would try, or rather could try to assassinate the leader of the Dark brotherhood without her say so after all.

With a careful flourish she signed the notebook of her fan, before turning to Tolfdir once more.

"So, you believe the door was pushed into position?"

"Yes, both me and Helen came to the same conclusion, there maybe some form of mechanism on the other side holding it in place, but there's no way to tell for sure until we get inside, I believe we may have to do as you suggested."

"I agree, especially now that I can see the door in question, it does make me wonder what they were trying to keep out with a door this impressive..." At her agreement Tolfdir nodded before herding Helen down the stairs and back towards the relative safety of the elevator.

"We're about as far back as we possibly can go, we'll leave it in your capable hands Archmage."

She shook her fist in mock anger before focusing on her task, knocking on the door as it were... stepping up to the platform she took a deep breath and focused on the thu'um she needed.

"FUS, RO, DAH!" She shouted, no roared at the door, she felt the rush of power, the thrill of it! A huge **CRACK** was heard as the 'door' was forced open... by a measly inch?

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It had taken her eight attempts , three bouts of swearing and a sweet roll to force the door open (the sweet roll was necessary!), as it turned out the front 'door' was a foot thick solid metal slab, complete with several locking bolts that had snapped (probably the cracking noise earlier) in the process of getting the door open and shifted onto what appeared to be a track, then, after an hour of debates they managed to get the door to shift to its left by summoning two frost atronach's inside the space beyond the door and having them roll the door out the way, at this point they had come to a decision what ever was behind the door must have been either incredibly important, incredibly valuable or incredibly dangerous... hopefully just not another Eye of Magnus.

Once the dust began to settle the trio decided to take a look inside as the two summons were dismissed. Remarkably there was several light sources, glowing dimly in the dark.

"I take it back, fighting Draugr would have been more entertaining." She groaned, her throat and tongue aching from the shouts.

"Incredible! Just look at this place!" Tolfdir said, barely taking any notice as he looked around in wonder, eyes wide as plates as he examined everything from small pipes to water basins, to shower units, all still miraculously working, despite the millennia that must have passed since the doors were last opened.

Helen mean while was carefully making a map as they travelled through the ruin, which was in unusually good condition, no cave ins anywhere to be seen, though the surroundings had been made primarily of steal from what she could tell. She was also marking down any inscriptions she could find, if it really was a composite language based on several languages used in Tamriel than she might be able to translate them later, she could be the first to translate a dead language! Her excitement continued to bubble until they entered the next room.

"Careful-" The Archmage whispered as she silently slid her sword from its sheath. "-we're not alone."

All around them in the room stood enclosures, each of them holding an individual inside.

"What is this?" Whispered Helen as she continued to scribble notes down in her notepad.

"They don't appear to be alive... Archmage?" Tolfdir had been peering through the glass on one of the enclosures at one of the individuals, making sure not to touch anything when he heard the Archmage speak a thu'um.

She took one look around the room and whispered "Laas." Aura sight was ridiculously useful in situations like these, though it seemed that unfortunately, none of the people were alive. "It's safe." she said as she sheathed her sword.

"Is it... perhaps a morgue?" Helen asked peering through the glass, looking at the individuals, all perfectly preserved in their state of death.

"It would seem so,-" Murmured Tolfdir as he continued to examine the enclosure they had been encased in. "-they appear to have been frozen solid, though I don't know what the uniforms are about, perhaps a sign of status?"

"Perhaps, we should move on-" She began before Helen interrupted her, having spotted something.

"Hey, those two are empty!" She pointed across the room at two previously unnoticed enclosures, each of them glaringly empty of any occupants. She wondered over and began examining one of the consoles stationed next to the enclosure. she was so focused on jotting down the positions of each button and lever that she jumped when Tolfdir spoke from just behind her.

"Come along now, we can come back to this later." he said sternly, it was good that she was curious but not so that she would just wonder off on them.

"Bu-but!" She pouted as she leaned against the console, inadvertently knocking the lever as they began to walk away.

It was the hissing noise that alerted them however, they turned back thinking an threat of some description had snuck up on them, and instead they where greeted to the final opening process of the enclosure.

"Well done Helen! So this is how it functions, most ingenious!" said Tolfdir as he began examining the enclosure. "I believe the Archmage went into the next room, why don't you tell her what you've found while I continue to examine this." Helen nodded and followed after where Delphine had gone, thankfully she didn't have to go far before finding her, staring into one of the occupied enclosures in another room.

"Archmage! We managed to get one of the empty enclosures to open! Professor Tolfdir is examining it now, he... Archmage? Are you ok?" Helen asked, afraid that she hadn't heard her.

"They're alive." She whispered as she stared through the glass at the raven haired lady inside before gesturing to the enclosure directly opposite.

"W-what? But this is a morgue... isn't it? Said Helen, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Ah! Archmage, Helen! There you where!" Said Tolfdir as he strolled into the room. "I was wondering if you had gotten lost! Archmage, as Helen has probably told you... Archmage? Helen?"

"How do we open it?"

"Archmage? We-we can't just open them! The bodies would get damaged! We must leave them intact as possible!" Tolfdir was stunned, it was one thing to fight off an attacking Draugr but to intentionally disturb the dead? Unheard of! They couldn't just-

"They're alive." She kept her voice quite but there was a vibe of stillness in the air, a subtle threat of 'if you don't stop and get to it something dreadful is going to happen'.

"I-wait, what? How?" Tolfdir stunned beyond belief couldn't even string a sentence together, so Helen moved past the Archmage and pulled the lever for the raven haired lady's enclosure before crossing the room and flipping the same lever there.

All three of them stepped back as the lids to each of the enclosures unlatched themselves for the first time in millennia, the partially frosted glass of the enclosures slowly cleared of frost as the inside began to heat up to room temperature and a strange voice emanated from somewhere in the room.

"Manual override initiated. Cryogenic stasis suspended."

The cry of a baby distracted them from searching for the source of the voice as a male in his mid thirty's stumbled out of an enclosure onto the floor, breathing heavily, followed by the raven haired lady stumbling out as well, though she managed to keep her balance, no doubt more concerned for the child that was crying in her arms than her own safety, Helen went to help before she was pulled back by the Archmage, they still didn't know if these people were a threat.

"Hey there little guy, come on mommy's here, mommy's here. Hey honey? You ok?" She asked before looking around the room to look at the other occupants, surprise coloured her face first with caution and curiosity coming next, just who were these people... and how long have they been in Cryogenic stasis?

"Yeah, 'cough', yeah I'm good! How's Shawn?" he asked from the floor whilst heaving deep breaths, still oblivious to the other occupants of the room.

"Shawn's ok..." The relief was palpable in her voice as she checked her son over, her attention swiftly turned back to the other three in the room however as the Archmage stepped forward and asked her question.

"Who...are you?"

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Alright! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys think! See you next time!


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